Google Battles the Growing Giant

by: Meghan Freeman

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In 2006 Google agreed to sign a contract to censor search results that disagree with China’s law. The agreement changed when Chinese government hackers tried to hack into Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights activists. Google withdrew the censors and threatened to pull out of China if they were not allowed to function freely. Google is justly engaged in a cyber war against China. Google has the right to be enraged due to China’s violation of their customer’s, who are dissident’s, rights to privacy, freedom of speech, and right to knowledge.

Google vs. China



Timeline

January 27, 2006 -Google.cn launch with agreement to censoring results as required by the Chinese government
December 2009-Sino Cybernauts launch attack on Google, attack sponsored by Chinese government
January 12, 2010-Google threatens to leave and takes down censors
March 22, 2010-Google leaves China

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Young Chinese citizens leave offerings in respect for Google



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Google.cn homepage


Google: Do, Did, Has Done No Evil

“Do no evil” is the motto of Google Inc. It may seem to be just white motivational icing that covers a dark chocolate cake, but it is pertinent to all of Google’s business practices.

Chinese government hackers, the Sino cybernauts, hacked into dissident’s Gmail accounts after Google denied them access. Unlike Google, Yahoo had given the government access to four dissidents email accounts, and the dissidents were imprisoned for terms of up to ten years. The founder of Dui Hua Foundation, John Kamm, in San Francisco, which enjoys success in encouraging China to release dissidents, says, “In the 20 tears I’ve been doing this work, I can’t think of anything comparable.”

China is not only attacking Gmail accounts, but also “the heart of a much bigger global debate about freedom of speech.”

In China many of the social networking cites are blocked. These include Youtube, Twitter, and Facebook, all in the hope of preventing the spreading of original ideas. After Google declared it’s withdrawal from China, China tried to censor the debate of its censorship. Still Chinese Twitter users found a way to praise Google. One twittered “It’s not Google that’s withdrawing from China, it’s China that’s withdrawing from the world.”

Chinese Citizens Reactions Towards Google Leaving



Google vs. China Quiz

True or false
1. There censors blocking Google.cn to abide by Chinese gov. law. T F
2. Google threatened to leave because no one would use their search engine. T F
3. The Sino cybernauts are hackers. T F
4. Google removed censors in January 2010. T F
5. Google left China in April 2010. T F
6. The Dui Hua Foundation encourages China to release dissidents. T F
7. A dissident is a human right's activist. T F